Approaching Italica through the lens of landscape

The sustainability of heritage tourism is gaining momentum in heritage research. In the path towards reaching development while maintaining territorial balance, moving beyond an object-centred approach becomes especially relevant. As opposed to a fragmented view, design strategies aimed at linking heritage resources, both natural and cultural, in a territory-scaled project promotes responsible practices, as they reduce the pressure on mainstream listed objects in favour of scattered heritage elements which otherwise will remain anonymous and invisible. Facing the challenge of how to coherently integrate heritage resources into an integral territorial project, landscape concept presents itself as a methodological opportunity. Landscape, as the expression of the bonds between human beings and the natural space they inhabit, offers a narrative, a story to tell deriving from the historic process of that relation. By reading the landscape historically, new interpretative connections between resources can be set. Those links set the basis of a design project aimed at improving landscape legibility by making connections spatially explicit. These type of interventions shift the emphasis from the concept of use towards the idea of function. This means that, in order to make heritage pieces play a role in sustainable development through tourism, it is not enough to simply adapt them for a contemporary use, as what becomes determinant is the new function they are going to play in a broader network, guaranteeing that they get operational in the framework of a comprehensive territorial system. This contribution puts these ideas into practice through the case study of the archaeological landscape of Italica (Seville, Spain). A landscape-based narrative, both urban and territorial, has been set as a basis for linking scattered heritage resources. The strategic potential of those connections in relation to an integrated territorial project is discussed.